site.btaNation Celebrates Awakeners' Day

Sofia, November 1 (BTA) - The first day in November is National Awakeners' Day in Bulgaria. It is an occasion to celebrate the Bulgarian educators, literati, revolutionaries and awakeners of the nation's spirit, intellect and desire to learn.

President Rumen Radev hosted a reception for the leaders of national institutions of science, education, culture and art. Addressing them, Radev said: "An awakener is not an intellectual of the European type, he is a Bulgarian intellectual phenomenon. You can tell an awakener by the light he spreads over those around him with his talent, valour, wisdom and dedication."

The political groups in the National Assembly came up with declarations on National Awakeners' Day.

The ruling GERB confirmed that education is a government priority and expressed their readiness for further reforms based on the proposals of teachers, trade unions and non-governmental organizations. Milena Damyanova (GERB), who chairs the Education and Science Committee in the National Assembly, said the draft state budget for 2018 stipulates that public spending on education and science will increase by more than half a billion leva.

Erol Mehmed (Movement for Rights and Freedoms, MRF) said: "In its cradle, Bulgaria has room not just for the history of one ethnic group. We are destined to live together and our peaceful coexistence is a fundamental value and a political philosophy of the MRF."

Ivo Hristov (BSP For Bulgaria) said that during almost 30 years of transition to democracy, over 2.5 million Bulgarians have left their country. One of the best Bulgarian mathematicians has estimated that these people generate about 100 billion US dollars in income in the countries where they live and work, Hristov said. He also cited a study by the UN Economic Cooperation Organization which shows that 30 per cent of 9th and 10th grade school students in Bulgaria are functionally illiterate in mathematics, natural sciences and Bulgarian language and literature. Although the Bulgarians boast some of the highest ratings of learnedness, intelligence and appreciation of science and education as important social values, their country is placed below 50th or 60th position in all recent international rankings, Hristov said.

Volen Siderov (United Patriots, GERB's partner) urged the adoption of religion as a school subject and called for changes in history books.

Gergana Stefanova (Volya) said: "Every one of us can be an awakener nowadays, you don't have to be a great hero in order to become an awakener."

Interviewed by BTA in the sidelines of a festive ceremony, Bulgarian Teachers Union President Yanka Takeva said the secondary-education budget will be increased by 392 million leva in 2018 compared with 2017, which is the highest increase in recent years. Takeva said: "This is the first time that we get a good budget for secondary education and it should be acknowledged that Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, Education and Science Minister Krassimir Vulchev, the Bulgarian Teachers' Union and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria have together achieved something that should have been done years ago in order to show that education is the real priority."